Gunshot detector and notification system

ABSTRACT

A gunshot detection system includes a firearm and a communication device. The firearm includes a transceiver circuit that detects the discharge of an ammunition round. Upon the discharge occurring, the transceiver circuit emits an electromagnetic signal. The electromagnetic signal is received by the communication device, which may be a cellular telephone or two-way radio. The communication device is equipped with a geographic location sensor, like a GPS receiver for example. Software within the communication device then causes an informational message that includes geographic information to be transmitted to a remote device. For instance, when a police officer discharges his firearm, an informational message stating “Officer 1234 has just fired 3 shots at the intersection of Cucumber and Vine—please respond” may be transmitted. The informational message may change as information like the geographic location change.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

This invention relates generally to a system for detecting the discharge of an ammunition round from a firearm, and more particularly to a system including a firearm with an ammunition discharge detector, the firearm having wireless communication capabilities for actuating an external communication device.

2. Background Art

Policemen on the beat, needless to say, have very difficult jobs. Our county, city and state law enforcement officers place their lives on the line every day to protect and serve the citizenry. With the emergence of new terrorism threats, the job demanded of our brave police force is becoming ever more difficult.

In this day and age, timely communication has become increasingly important to the police department. When a policeman on patrol encounters a problem, be it either a simple domestic crime or a coordinated terrorist attack, it is imperative that he communicate with both the central precinct and other officers as soon as possible. Traditionally, this communication occurred via two-way radios. When the officer needed to talk to others, he simply took his trusty two-way radio off of his belt, pressed a button to talk, and relayed his message.

The need to manually handle a radio to communicate becomes problematic, however, when the officer has his weapon drawn. Communication through a hand-held radio is virtually impossible when the officer is firing his weapon. In such high stress situations, adrenaline, the need for self preservation and the officer's training all focus the officer's attention to the task at hand. To further complicate matters, a law enforcement officer is taught to bear his sidearm 2 with two hands 3,4 when firing a weapon, as shown in FIG. 1. This stance is commonly referred to as the “Weaver Stance”. For the right handed officer 1, when the firearm 2 is drawn, the right hand 3 is placed upon the grip of the gun 2, while the left hand 4 is placed under the right 3. In this position, the right hand 3 can pull the trigger and resist recoil, while the left hand offers stabilization for aiming. Aiming stability is critical because an errantly discharged bullet can have harmful effects. For this reason, policemen always use two hands when handling a firearm.

When the officer is in this “two-handed” firearm handling position, it is impossible for him to manually “key” his radio to call, for example, back-up assistance. Since both hands are occupied in these situations, aside from the extremely high stress factors, there is no free hand to depress the “talk” key on the radio. Not surprisingly, the times at which the officer's gun is drawn tend to be the times the officer most needs to communicate with others, especially when back-up assistance is required.

Inventors have attempted to devise communication systems that detect the presence of gunfire without a radio, so that law enforcement personnel may be summoned. One such prior art solution to this problem is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,792, which teaches a plurality of acoustic sensors positioned on walls in a location that has a high probability of becoming a crime scene, like a convenience store or bank. When a weapon is discharged, acoustic sensors filter the received sound and, upon identifying the noise as a gunshot, notify the authorities.

There are several problems, however, associated with this prior art solution. First, the overhead cost associated with such a system is extremely high. Multiple detectors must be physically mounted in multiple locations for the system to work. Aside from the high cost, if the sensor mounting person fails to accurately guess in which location a crime will occur, the system is ineffective.

Second, the system is fixed in a single location. As such, the system can not move with an officer pursuing a perpetrator who may flee the location. What's more, if a crime takes place in a rural area, it will be impossible to use the system, as there are no walls upon which to mount the sensors.

Third, a base unit transmission system is required, further adding to the cost. Finally, the system merely identifies gunshots. No other information about what is happening is transmitted to the authorities. For example, the system can not tell whether authorities are already present, how many officers are on the scene, etc.

There is thus a need for an improved gunshot detection system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a person shooting a firearm.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate front and rear views, respectively, of a police officer wearing standard-issue equipment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a gunshot detection system in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a wireless switch in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates an alternate embodiment of a transceiver circuit in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates an application of a system in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A preferred embodiment of the invention is now described in detail. Referring to the drawings, like numbers indicate like parts throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims, the following terms take the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise: the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on.”

This invention provides a system for detecting the discharge of ammunition from a firearm. The system includes a firearm having a firing sensor. The firing sensor is incorporated into a transceiver circuit capable of emitting electromagnetic signals. When the firearm is fired, the transceiver circuit, sensing the ammunition discharge, causes the transceiver circuit to emit the electromagnetic signal.

A communication device, like a cellular telephone or two-way radio for example, receives the electromagnetic signal. The communication device is equipped with a geographical location sensor, like a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. Upon receiving the electromagnetic signal, the communications device broadcasts an informational message that includes geographical information.

For example, suppose an officer fires his firearm. The transceiver circuit, which may be actuated by and number of sources including the motion of the firing pin, the motion of the hammer, trigger or other mechanisms, causes the transmitter to emit an electromagnetic signal. When the communication device receives this signal, it determines its geographical location and then transmits an informational message to other officers or the precinct. The informational message may read something like the following: “Officer 13452 has fired 3 shots at the corner of Grant and Sydney streets. Please send back-up. Officers in the area please respond.” The informational message, which may be audible or in text, may be transmitted to the officer's vehicle and then relayed to the precinct to take advantage of the strong signal strength of the vehicle's radio.

Turning now to FIGS. 2 and 3, illustrated therein are the front and rear views of a police officer wearing standard-issue equipment. The officer 20 is wearing a belt 23, to which his equipment is tethered. The officer 20 has a gun or firearm 21, placed in a holster 22 that is coupled to the belt 23. The officer 20 also has handcuffs 26 and a two-way radio 24. Other equipment, including a baton, pepper spray, extra ammunition and the like may also be coupled to the belt.

The officer 20 communicates with the precinct and other officers through his two-way radio 24. This can be done in a few different ways. First, the officer 20 may decouple the radio 24 from the belt 23, raise the radio 24 towards his mouth and ear, push the talk button on the radio 24 and talk. This is the standard operating mode.

The more popular way for policemen to communicate is via the wired, shoulder mounted audio device 25 clipped to the officer's shoulder. This device 25 generally includes a speaker and microphone, as well as a talk button, and is affectionately referred to as a “potato”. The device 25 may additionally include volume controls.

When using the shoulder mounted audio device 25, rather than having to disconnect the radio 24 from the belt 23, thereby rendering at least one hand unavailable, the officer 20 simply presses the button on the shoulder mounted audio device 25, and talks. If the officer 20 is suddenly called into action, he simply releases the button and starts to work. There is no need to re-couple devices to his personage. Nonetheless, the use of a shoulder mounted audio device 25 still requires a hand for actuation. There are no hands available when the officer's weapon 21 is drawn from the holster 22 and is being fired. The present invention can make use of the radio 24 as the communication device portion of the system.

Turning now to FIG. 4, illustrated therein is a firearm detection system, in accordance with the invention. The firearm 40 includes a transceiver circuit 46 capable of detecting ammunition discharge. The transceiver circuit 46 includes transmission circuitry 45 capable of emitting an electromagnetic signal 47, like a radio frequency (RF) signal, when the firearm 40 is fired. The electromagnetic signal 47 is then relayed to the two-way communication device 48, which includes a geographic location sensor like a GPS module 49. (Note that the term “global positioning system” and the acronym “GPS” as used herein shall refer to any type of satellite or terrestrial device capable of transmitting geographical position coordinates to a portable device. This includes traditional global positioning systems, as well as new technologies like the Galileo system in the European Union, LORAN, Glonass, and other equivalent systems.)

Upon receipt of the electromagnetic signal 47, the communication device 48 determines its location from the GPS module 49. The communication device 48 then relays a predetermined message to a remote device, like another officer's radio, a vehicle or the central precinct. The informational message, the template of which may be stored in the form of software code in the memory of the communication device 48, will include geographical information, but may also include other information like of firearm identification information (including serial number, type of weapon, etc.), ammunition identification information (including caliber, projectile type, gunpowder grain, etc.), discharge quantity information (like the number of shots), temporal discharge information (how frequently the shots are being fired), firearm user identification information (like who is shooting) and prerecorded announcement information (e.g. “Please call for backup”). The firearm 40 thus allows an officer to transmit ammunition discharge information, via either a two-way radio 48 or shoulder mounted audio device 52, without talking or taking his hands off the firearm 40.

The firearm 40 has standard firearm components, including a barrel 41, trigger 42, handle grip 43 and ammunition clip 44. As noted above, when the discharge of ammunition is detected, electronic circuitry disposed within the firearm 40 causes a radio frequency, electromagnetic signal 47 to be emitted from the hand gun 40. The detection of the discharge of ammunition may be done in several ways, as will be described in the discussion of FIG. 5.

Turning now to FIG. 5, illustrated therein is one embodiment of circuitry associated with a gunshot detection system in accordance with the invention. The transceiver circuit includes a transmission circuit 60, a transmission antenna 63, a switch 61 and a battery 62. The transmission circuit 60 may be as simple as an oscillator that is actuated when the switch 61 closes to complete the circuit. Another suitable transceiver chip would be a Bluetooth™ module like the BGB101 TrueBlue™ Bluetooth module manufactured by Philips. Using the Bluetooth option, the transmission circuit 60 may communicate information to the two-way communication device via the Bluetooth, near-field protocol. Other radio frequency transmitter devices may be substituted as well.

As stated above, when the switch 61 is actuated, the transmission antenna 63 emits a radio frequency signal 64. The actuation of the switch 61 occurs when ammunition discharge is detected. As illustrated in FIG. 5, ammunition discharge information can be gleaned from a variety of sources. For example, the switch 61 may be actuated when any one component of the firearm 40 is actuated. The switch 61 may actuate when the firing pin moves 603. Likewise, the switch 61 may actuate when the trigger is pulled 602. Other actions that may actuate the switch include actuation of the hammer 604, actuation of the slide 601 (for semi-automatic handguns), actuation of the cylinder 607 (for revolvers), thermal changes of the barrel 606, and changes in an amount of stored ammunition 605.

The communications device receives the radio frequency signal via an antenna 65 and receiving circuitry 66. Upon receipt of this signal 65, the receiving circuit 66 actuates the GPS receiver 69 and associated circuitry 67, so that the communications device may begin transmitting. A transistor 68 is shown here as an illustrative means of actuating the communication device circuitry 67. Prerecorded messages and alerts may be stored in memory devices (not shown) in the communications device.

Note that it is desirable to keep the gunshot detector and associated circuitry in the firearm 40 as small as possible, so as to leave the original design of the firearm 40 undisturbed. It is also desirable to make the battery 62 in the firearm 40 last as long as possible to avoid the necessity of constantly replacing or recharging the battery 62. The circuit of FIG. 6 illustrates one preferred embodiment that accomplishes both these goals.

Turning now to FIG. 6, illustrated therein is an alternate embodiment of a transceiver that serves as one component of the gunshot detection system. In this embodiment, the switch is a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag 70 having programmable state information, as taught in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,112 B 1, entitled “Radio Frequency Identification Tag with a Programmable Circuit State”, issued to Vega, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

In this embodiment the RFID tag 70 is essentially a passive device until an exciter signal 72 is received. The exciter signal 72, emitted for example by an electrostatic exciter embedded in the two-way communication device 74, causes the RFID tag 70 to become energized. The RFID tag 70 then transmits a read signal 73 back to the two-way communication device 74 indicating the state of the switch 71. The read signal 73 includes a carrier signal that is based upon the tag state. A reader in the communication device detects the carrier signal and thus the stored tag information.

The state of the tag may be changed when the firearm 40 is fired, thereby causing an ammunition discharge to be detected by the transceiver circuit. As such, when the RFID tag 70 is queried by the reader, the RFID tag 70 can tell the communication device 74 whether a shot has been fired, as the state changes when the ammunition discharge is detected. The resulting read signal 73 will cause the communication device to transmit only when both the electronic circuitry receives an interrogation signal 72 from the communication device 74, and the RFID tag 70 detects an ammunition discharge and thus changes state.

The advantages of the embodiment of FIG. 6 include the fact that no battery is needed in the firearm 40. All of the energy is supplied by the battery 75 coupled to the communication device 74. This allows for even more storage space in the firearm 40, perhaps for extra ammunition. Where the user does not want the communication device 74 to interrogate the firearm 40 with exciter signals 72 continuously, an exciter switch may be used. For example, a magnetic or mechanical switch may be added to the holster such that the exciter signal 72 is only sent when the firearm 40 is drawn from the holster.

Turning now to FIG. 7, illustrated therein is one application for a system in accordance with the invention. When the firearm 40 is fired, the transceiver circuit 76 emits an electromagnetic signal 47 to a communication device 48 having geographic location circuitry disposed therein. The communication device 48 then transmits an informational message 77(a) that includes geographical information. The informational message 77(a) may optionally be “bounced” off of another transmitter 78 that is used as a repeater to create an amplified informational message 77(b). The informational message is then sent to a remote device, like the radio equipment disposed in a police precinct 79. The precinct may then send a notification call 80 to other officers 81-83 for backup assistance.

This system offers numerous advantages over the prior art. First, the system transmits geographic information pertaining to the gunshot, thereby eliminating the need for an officer to speak into a radio to describe location. Second, the system is capable of providing identification information of the user of the firearm, the firearm itself, the ammunition, or any combination of the above. Third, the system is adaptable in that the informational message may change as the geographic information changes. For example, if the officer is running and shooting at the same time, officers providing backup support will have up to date information so as to more easily locate the officer in distress.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is clear that the invention is not so limited. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions, and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. For example, while exemplary embodiments have been directed to a police officer's handgun, it will be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention could be applied to other devices, military situations that require the user to use a two-handed weapon like a rifle or rocket launcher. 

1. A system for transmitting firearm discharge information, comprising: a. a firearm comprising: i. a barrel; ii. a chamber for carrying ammunition; iii. a trigger; iv. a firing pin capable of discharging the ammunition; and v. a transceiver circuit capable of detecting an ammunition discharge; and b. a communications device comprising a geographic location sensor; wherein the transceiver circuit detects the ammunition discharge by detecting the actuation of a firearm component selected from the group consisting of the firing pin, a hammer, a slide, and a cylinder, wherein when the transceiver circuit detects the ammunition discharge, a transmission is sent from the transceiver circuit to the communications device; further wherein when the transmission is received by the communications device, an informational message comprising geographic location in information is transmitted to a remote device.
 2. (canceled)
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the informational message comprises information selected from the group consisting of firearm identification information, ammunition identification information, discharge quantity information, temporal discharge information, firearm user identification information and prerecorded announcement information. 4-5. (canceled)
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the transceiver circuit comprises: a. a transmission circuit; b. a transmission antenna; c. a switch; and d. a battery.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the transceiver circuit comprises electronic circuitry that responds to interrogation signals from the communications device, wherein when both the electronic circuitry receives an interrogation signal from the external device and the transceiver circuit detects an ammunition discharge, the electronic circuitry causes the informational message to be emitted from the firearm.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the transceiver circuit is actuated when the firearm is drawn from a holster.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein the barrel comprises an antenna for transmitting the informational message.
 10. A gunshot detecting system, comprising: a. firearm comprising a transceiver circuit, wherein the transceiver circuit is actuated when an ammunition round is discharged by the firearm, wherein discharge is detected by detecting the actuation of a firearm component selected from the group consisting of the firing pin, a hammer, a slide, and a cylinder; and b. a communications device comprising at least a geographic location sensor; wherein when the electromagnetic signal is emitted from the firearm, the communication device causes an informational message comprising at least geographical information to be broadcast.
 11. (canceled)
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the transceiver circuit comprises an ammunition discharge detector and an RF transmitter.
 13. (canceled)
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the transceiver circuit comprises a circuit that transmits upon receiving an interrogation by an external device, further wherein the transceiver circuit changes state when the discharge of the ammunition round is detected.
 15. The system of claim 10, wherein the informational message changes as the geographic location sensor detects changes in geographic location.
 16. The system of claim 1, wherein the informational message comprises firearm identification information. 